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  • Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

  • The family is a common topic in IELTS, especially in Part 1 of the Speaking Test.

  • Talking about such a familiar topic might seem simple, but doing it well requires thought

  • and practice.

  • Let's listen to someone talking about their family:

  • My mother is a teacher and my father is an architect. I've got 2 brothers and one sister,

  • so that's all the immediate family.

  • She begins by identifying her mother and father, and then her brothers and sister. What did

  • she call all of them together?

  • My mother is a teacher and my father is an architect. I've got 2 brothers and one sister,

  • so that's all the immediate family.

  • The immediate family. Another term for this is nuclear family.

  • That's the parents - mother and father - and the siblings - brothers and sisters.

  • A male child is called the son of his parents and a female child is called the daughter.

  • Mother and father are the formal words. In informal English you say mum and dad, like

  • this:

  • Me and my mum we immigrated to Australia in 1991 to Perth and then I moved over to Sydney

  • to be with my dad, then dad moved back to Thailand, so yeah.

  • The family outside of the immediate family is called the extended family.

  • The parents of your parents are called grandparents - grandmother and grandfather. The brothers

  • and sisters of your parents are called uncles and aunts.

  • Listen:

  • Both my parents were only children, so I don't have any aunts or uncles. But I do have a

  • niece, my oldest brother's daughter.

  • If you refer to your mother's sister, you can say "my aunt on my mother's side". If

  • you refer to your father's father, you can say "grandfather on my father's side".

  • The children of your aunts and uncles are called "cousins", whether male or female.

  • The children of your brothers and sisters are called nephews if they're boys and nieces

  • if they're girls.

  • What did our first speaker say about her extended family?

  • Both my parents were only children, so I don't have any aunts or uncles. But I do have a

  • niece, my oldest brother's daughter.

  • She said her both her parents were only children. This means they were the only child of their

  • parents and didn't have any brothers or sisters.

  • If there are several children in your family you talk about them by order of birth, like

  • this:

  • I have one older brother, he's 22. I have, I'm in the middle and I'm 20 and I have a

  • younger sister who is 15.

  • The first child in the family can be called the oldest and the last the youngest. Sometimes

  • the youngest is called the baby brother or sister, or as in the next clip, the little

  • brother or sister:

  • I've got 2 sisters and a little brother.

  • The children of a family are a generation and the children they go on to have are the

  • next generation.

  • For instance, when someone's parents immigrate to Australia and have children here, those

  • children are called first-generation Australians. When they grow up and have children, their

  • children are referred to as second-generation Australians.

  • Listen:

  • My parents were born in Italy but my brothers and sister were born here so we're first generation

  • Australians. My niece is second generation.

  • A married couple are husband and wife. Each is called the spouse of the other.

  • The words for relatives by marriage are the same as with your immediate family, but with

  • -in-law added.

  • So your spouse's father is your father-in-law and their sister is your sister-in-law.

  • The plural of these forms is sisters-in-law and fathers-in-law.

  • Death and divorce mean that people remarry and have children with a different parent.

  • This parent by marriage is called your step-mother or step-father. Any children they may already

  • have become your step-brothers and step-sisters. The children they go on to have with your

  • actual mother or father are your half-brothers or half-sisters.

  • In the IELTS Speaking Test it is important to extend your answers. When asked about your

  • family, it's best to reply first by saying who is in your immediate family as our first

  • speaker did:

  • My mother is a teacher and my father is an architect. I've got 2 brothers and one sister,

  • so that's all the immediate family.

  • Now listen to how you might develop a longer answer, like this:

  • My mum was born in Malaysia in a town called Bentong, which is just north of Kuala Lumpur.

  • But her family origin is Sri Lankan Tamil. So racially I guess you'd say they're South

  • Indian. But they migrated to Sri Lanka and then her family …her elder sister was

  • born in Sri Lanka. But then her family moved to Malaysia and most of the other children

  • were born in Malaysia.

  • First she says where her mum was born:

  • My mum was born in Malaysia in a town called Bentong, which is just north of Kuala Lumpur.

  • But her mother isn't ethnically Malaysian, so she points this out:

  • But her family origin is Sri Lankan Tamil. So racially I guess you'd say they're South

  • Indian.

  • She then explains how her mother came to be born in Malaysia:

  • Her elder sister was born in Sri Lanka. But then her family moved to Malaysia and most

  • of the other children were born in Malaysia.

  • When developing your answer, be careful to use the correct prepositions - in or at.

  • You are born 'in' a country and 'in' a town.

  • Listen:

  • My mum was born in Malaysia in a town called Bentong, which is just north of Kuala Lumpur.

  • If you decided to say where your parents were educated, you need to say 'at' - "my father

  • studied at university."

  • There are many possible questions that can be asked about families. The questions are

  • designed to make you use particular language functions.

  • So, for making comparisons you may be asked: "Are nuclear families better than extended

  • families?"

  • And for giving an opinion, the examiner might ask: "Should children always obey their parents?"

  • If the examiner asked you: "What is the best age to get married?" They are expecting you

  • to identify and explain.

  • So it's a good idea to think about possible questions like these and try to make up some

  • more questions yourself. Listen to the way this woman responds to the question: "What's

  • a normal family?"

  • I don't think there's any such thing as a normal family, but, yeah my family gets along

  • well. It's got it's quirks but we get along well.

  • That's challenging the question, which you are allowed to do as long as you justify what

  • you say.

  • When answering questions about family, you need to be able to identify family members

  • and their relationships to one another with the correct words.

  • What family members does this woman mention?

  • I used to speak Cantonese at home when I was a kid and then when I went to school I spoke

  • English with all my friends, and a few of my cousins are here and things, so I spoke

  • English with them as well, and then slowly I lost learning Cantonese and I can't speak

  • it anymore.

  • She talked about her cousins, who are the children of her aunts or uncles.

  • You need to have something to say about your family, so be prepared to say where your parents

  • were born or where your brothers or sisters work or study, like this:

  • My oldest brother studied law at Flinders University in Adelaide and got a job at a

  • law firm in the city where he met his wife. They were married 2 years ago and last year

  • they had their first child. My sister-in law is expecting another baby. I'm hoping for

  • a nephew this time.

  • She talked about her oldest brother, his wife who is also her sister-in-law and her potential

  • nephew. She said when her brother was married, where he studied and what he does and even

  • where he met his wife.

  • That's all for now.

  • To find more information about the speaking test and to view other episodes, visit our

  • Study English website.

  • Good luck with your studies.

Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

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A2 初級 美國腔

學習英語--系列3,第21集:談家常。 (Study English - Series 3, Episode 21: Talking About the Family)

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    Jinyong Zheng 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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